Residents of Khutsong South Extension 4, Phase 2, along Adelaide Tambo Drive, are living next to an open sewage stream mixed with illegal dumping and burning waste, raising serious health fears.
The video shows grey, foul-smelling water flowing continuously through a veld area. The stream is filled with plastic, toilet paper, food packaging and household waste. On its banks, large piles of rubbish have been set alight, with smoke still rising near a concrete stormwater channel and a palisade fence.
Children and animals walk through the area daily, residents say.
“This has been like this for weeks. The smell is unbearable at night. We cannot open windows. Our children get rashes and diarrhoea,” said one resident who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation.
The site is less than a 70 meters from homes and on a route used by learners.
Health and environmental risk
Raw sewage in open areas carries cholera, E.coli and typhoid risk.
When mixed with burning plastic, it releases toxic fumes that cause respiratory problems. The area is built on dolomite, which is unstable when wet – a combination that has caused sinkholes across Khutsong South before.
Municipality denies active leak
Merafong City Local Municipality last week issued a statement on a Khutsong Ext 4 sewage spill, after photos were shared by resident Omolemo Molefe on 12 August.
The municipality said a technical team inspected the site on 16 August and “found no evidence of an active sewerage spillage, overflow, or system blockage at the specified address” and said the images might depict a historical leak.
Residents accuse the municipality of neglecting maintenance. In Khutsong Ext 3, near Hlanganani Primary School, sewage has been streaming from manholes for three months. In Wedela, the wastewater treatment plant has been non-functional since 2015, with over a million litres of sewage spilling into rivers daily.
Merafong has been spending R700,000 per month on water tankers and faces criminal charges from the Department of Water and Sanitation for illegal dumping of sewage into the Wonderfonteinspruit.
What residents demand:
- Immediate unblocking and repair of the sewer line in Ext 4 Phase 2
- Removal of the illegal dumpsite and placement of skip bins
- Environmental Health inspection and disinfection of the area
The matter has been reported to the Merafong Water and Sanitation unit and the Department of Water and Sanitation hotline 0800 200 200.
Residents are urged to keep children away from the stream and to report any illness to Khutsong South Clinic.
